tequixquitl

[r. joe campbell]

Note the following sentence quoted from Sahagun's _Psalmodia Christiana_,
edited by Arthur Anderson (p. 74):

   Ic oitlacauh in cemanaoatl, in tlalticpactli, ca **otequixquiquiz**,
otetzacat, aocmo vel muchiua in *tonacauitl*, aocmo no qualli in
itlaaquillo.

  Translation given: Thus the world, the earth, was corrupted; for niter
spread; [the soil] grew sterile.  No longer could our foodstuffs be
produced; likewise no longer were their fruits good.

   I have a question and a comment:

  1) first, the comment: on checking the facsimile of the Psalmodia, I
found that the modern book contains a typographical error; the word is
"tonacaiutl", not "tonacauitl".  Further, the 'our' in the English '...our
foodstuffs...' translation is probably related to the initial "to-", based
on the assumption that it is a first person plural possessive.  But with
the correct spelling -- and regularized to "tonacayotl" -- it is obvious
that it involves the nominalization of "to:na" embedded in "-yotl".
And the absolutive ending made the possessive interpretation impossible
anyway.

  2) second, the question:  I assume that "otequixquiquiz" is the preterit
of "tequixquiquiza", with the noun "tequixquitl" embedded in the verb
"quiza".  I had assumed that the Spanish borrowing "tequexquite" was a
widely used vocabulary item in Mexican Spanish, but I have just multiple
evidence to the contrary.

  Can someone enlighten me on this issue?

  As an additional bonus, I would like some helpful comment on the
morphological composition of the original Nahuatl noun "tequixquitl".
--My dubits are concerned with whether "-quixtia" ever nominalizes like
this.

Tlazohcamatihtzin,

Joe

p.s.  Note -- Dr. Cecilio A. Robelo, _Diccionario de Aztequismos: o sea
jardin de las raices aztecas, no date, Mexico, DF

 p. 262: tequesquite. -- (te-quix=quitl: tetl, piedra; quixquitl,
brotante.  eflorescente; derivado de quiza, salir espontaneamente:
"Piedra que sale por si' sola, eflorescente"). Eflorescencias salinas
naturales, formadas de sesquicarbonato de soda y de cloruro de sodio.

[footnote to above] El tequesquite, del que haci'an mucho useo los
mexicanos, tiene hoy todavi'a muchos uusos en la industria y en la cocina.
Hay de cuatro clases: espumilla, confitillo, cascarilla y polvillo.
Las dos primeras especies, que son las mejores, se forman de la agua
detenida en pequen~os pozos cuando baja o refluye la laguna de Texcoco.
Cuando se avapora el li'quido bajo la influencia de los rayos solares,
queda un sedimento confusamente cristalizado.  Las otras dos especies, que
son menos estimadas, son las eflorescencias producidas espontaneamente en
el suelo.  Se emplea el tequesquite en la colada de los lienzos, y
jaboneros lo usan como alcalino para saponificacio'n de las grasas.